Danny Trejo Serves Southern Justice In 'Bad Asses on the Bayou'

Danny Trejo stars in the third chapter of what you might call ‘The Bad Ass Trilogy.' and as you'll see, this one takes Danny to new heights.

'Bad Asses on the Bayou' reunites the dynamic duo, Frank Vega (Danny Trejo) and Bernie Pope (Danny Glover), as they travel to Louisiana to attend the wedding of their dear friend Carmen Gutierrez (Loni Love). What was pictured as a wedding weekend escape to the south turns violently ugly as madness and mayhem ensue, pressing our senior heroes to once again serve justice.

While Trejo was working as a youth drug counselor, a teenage patient asked for his assistance dealing with cocaine problems on the set of Runaway Train (1985). While there, Trejo was offered a job as an extra in the film's prison scenes. Edward Bunker, himself a former convict and well-respected crime author who was writing the screenplay for the film, recognized Trejo, with whom he had done time at San Quentin. Bunker, remembering Trejo's boxing skills, offered him $320 per day to train Eric Roberts, one of the movie's stars, for a boxing scene. Director Andrei Konchalovsky liked Trejo's work and decided to offer him a small role in the film as a boxer. It has been widely misreported that Trejo was actually serving time in the prison during filming, when in fact he had been released over a decade earlier.

Since then, Trejo has become a prolific actor in both films and television, appearing alongside some of Hollywood's most famous actors, including Antonio Banderas, Charles Bronson, Nicolas Cage, George Clooney, Robert De Niro, Johnny Depp, Harrison Ford, Val Kilmer, John Malkovich, and Al Pacino, and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Trejo has often appeared in five or more movies per year, in various genres. He has appeared in such major releases as Marked for Death (1990), Blood In Blood Out (1993), Desperado (1995), Heat (1995), From Dusk till Dawn (1996), Anaconda (1997), Con Air (1997), Six Days Seven Nights (1998), The Replacement Killers (1998),Point Blank (1998), 'Animal Factory (2000), Bubble Boy (2001), SPY kids (2001), xXx (2001), Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003), Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), The Devil's Rejects (2005), Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror (2006), Delta Farce (2007), Grindhouse (2007), Rob Zombie's Halloween (2007), Urban Justice (2007, alongside Steven Seagal), Valley of Angels (2008), The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009, in which he voice the character of Rico), Machete (2010), Predators (2010), and Bad Ass (2012).

Trejo is known for his distinctive appearance. In addition to his heavily lined face, scarred from cystic acne and a brawl, and the long mustache he usually sports, he has displayed the large tattoo on his chest for many roles (the tattoo depicts a woman wearing a sombrero). He often plays thugs or lowlife characters, although he has also played sympathetic characters in films such asRobert Rodriguez's Spy Kids trilogy, Bubble Boy, and the USA Network series Monk, where art imitated life in his portrayal of a convict roommate to Tony Shalhoub's undercover detective. He also appeared in a Season 2 episode of Desperate Housewives, where, as another good-guy character, he was sent by Carlos to help Gabrielle deal with her grief of losing her unborn baby. He voiced the character Enrique on King of the Hill, and Octavio's character on that show is based on his appearance. His role on King of the Hill was referred to in the HBO series Unscripted, where he had a cameo appearance. He also is featured in an episode of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! and an episode of Do IT LIVE with actors Anna Bennett and Claudia Pickering, shot in Downtown Los Angeles, titled "Sebring feat. Danny Trejo".

He also made guest appearances, as "Tortuga", in the award-winning series Breaking Bad in 2009 and 2010, most notably in the episode "Negro y Azul" (19 April 2009).

Regarding his continued growth as a professional actor, Trejo has stated that he still cannot believe how fortunate he has been: "I'm so blessed. I'm still scared that somebody's going to wake me up and say, 'Hey, we're still in prison. Let's go to chow". Many of Trejo's characters in Robert Rodriguez movies have been named after knives or sharp instruments: Machete in Spy Kids, Razor Charlie in the From Dusk till Dawn series, Navajas (Spanish for blades) in Desperado, and Cuchillo (Spanish for knife) in Predators. He also played Machete in a trailer made for Rodriguez's film collaboration with Quentin Tarantino, Grindhouse. In 2010, he starred in a full theatrical version of Machete, based on the character, followed by a second Machete Kills in 2013.

In 2012, Trejo starred alongside Ron Perlman and Charles S. Dutton in Craig Moss's action film Bad Ass (2012). He played the main character of Vietnam veteran Frank Vega, based on 67-year-old "Epic Beard Man" Thomas Bruso. That same year Trejo again appeared with Perlman in a supporting role in season 4 of the FX network drama Sons of Anarchy.

Danny Trejo produced his first film, Ambition, in 2014, it was a family film. He will produce an action film Bad Ass in 2015.

In 2015, Trejo appeared in a television commercial for Snickers that aired during Super Bowl XLIX, in which he portrayed Marcia Brady prior to eating the candy bar.